Local memorial held for rabbi
Posted on Monday, December 1, 2008
ROGERS — Rabbi Mendel Greisman is more than 8, 500 miles from Mumbai, India — but the events that occurred there this week still hit close to home.
On Sunday morning, Greisman, director of the Chabad of Northwest Arkansas, held a memorial service on behalf of his friend Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who died in an attack on the ultra-Orthodox Chabad Lubavitch movement’s center in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Holtzberg, 29, and his wife, Rivkah, 28, died in the attack as part of terrorist attacks that resulted in the deaths of at least ® people.
The Holtzbergs’ toddler son, Moshe, was rescued by an employee and taken to his grandparents. Moshe turned 2 on Sunday.
Much like Holtzberg did, Greisman heads a Chabad center, which serves as a community center for orthodox Jews. Each Chabad center provides needs based in the community it serves. Greisman provides Kosher meals for traveling vendors and outreach to fellow orthodox Jews. The Chabad serves as a place to pray, eat Kosher food or celebrate Jewish holidays. The Holzbergs arrived in India in 2003 to provide that service to local Jews.
Greisman attended a rabbinical school in Brooklyn with Holtzberg approximately a decade ago.
“ We chatted regularly and met regularly, but we weren’t close, ” Greisman said Sunday. He still remembered being impressed with Holtzberg’s kindness. On Sunday, Greisman expressed sadness over the attacks.
“ It’s very painful; very hard to imagine that such evil can exist in this world, ” Greisman said.
When asked why someone would want to put a violent end to a community service, Greisman could not provide answers. He said others in the community are asking similar questions.
“ People are shaken; people are asking why, but at the same time we must continue doing what we’re doing. We cannot allow these evil people to take over. The resilience among the Jewish community is amazing, ” he said.
“ The beauty of being Jewish is that we can ask the question of ‘ Why, ’ knowing full well that God’s ways are mysterious. Faith doesn’t get affected by the question ‘ Why. ’ We will never understand his ways; it’s not our job to justify. Our job is to remain faithful and to remain focused and do what we’re doing, ” Greisman said.
But now, the mission is not to give up, but to continue the mission of the Chabad by reaching out to others and performing kind acts.
“ If anybody wants to know what they can do — go out there, and do something good that you weren’t planning to do today. Inspire someone else to do something good that they weren’t planning to do today. The world is a global village, and everything we do has an effect on the whole world, ” Greisman said.
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